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Study Shows Boats are Moving Non-Native Species Around the Great Lakes

14-Jun-2018

A new study completed by the Great Water Research Collaborative within the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Lake Superior Research Institute on ballast water discharge discovered species that aren’t native to western Lake Superior.

Researchers concluded that discharges from vessels sailing the Great Lakes carried 13 non-native species into the western Lake Superior area, after sampling 15 ballast water discharges.

No environmental threat is known yet because it's not known if the organisms were alive or dead at the time of discharge; however, the Great Water Research Collaborative says more research should be done to find out, using larger sample sizes than the 5 to 53 percent of water discharge from ballast tanks.